We were about to go to the park for the 3rd time that day. Cohen asked, “Mama, can I bring my bike to the park? It’s a cool motorcycle.”

I really wanted to say no. It would have been the logical decision. Cohen had yet to actually learn how to pedal, so “bring his bike to the park” actually meant “mama carries the bike in one arm while precariously balancing sophie in the other arm and then we sit on the bike for 30 seconds and get off because it’s quite boring to be on a bike when you don’t know how to pedal”

However, this time was different.

We crossed the street and Cohen decided he wanted to ride past the neighbor’s house. To my astonishment, he could pedal! He had to wear his buzz lightyear sunglasses and refer to his bike as his “super-fast motorcycle” as he rode– but he did it! When we made it past the neighbor’s house, Cohen requested that we ride to the pond with the ducks (about a block away.) At this point, I realized we should probably get a stroller for sophie, so we all went back and got a stroller (I didn’t close or lock any of our doors, I figured we wouldn’t be gone for long.)

But Cohen pedaled… and pedaled… and pedaled. Whenever he would get stuck, I would coach him and push sophie’s stroller against his back tire to give him a boost. When we made it past 3 or 4 houses, he stated what would become his mantra for the hour and a half ride we had just begun “We’ll be there in no time! My motorcycle is super fast!”

So we got to the end of the street. With Sophie tied in her stroller, I probably looked like a crazy woman attemping to cross traffic with a bike in one arm, a toddler in a stroller, and a pre-schooler clutching the other side of the stroller. But we kept going. Cohen pedaled past the geese in the pond and all the way up to an intersection with a street light. “I want to ride to gaga’s!” he said.

So he pedaled on.

About 45 minutes into our trip, we had our first fall. Cohen was picking up speed going down a slight hill, and her turned the wheel sharply, tumbling into (thankfully) the grass. “Woah!” I said, “That was a motorcyle wipeout!” And he laughed getting back on the bike, saying “Woah! We’ll get there in no time!”

We continued to Gaga’s street and made our way up the biggest hill of the trip. Cohen’s feet strained against the pedals and Sophie was being un-age-appropriately patient. I called my parents to come see Cohen as he rode up on his bike across the street from their house.

We made it! When this kid wants something, he’s got the willpower to do it!